Easy Utah Business Meeting Hack

We had an annual meeting last year where I was assigned to put an agenda together and get markers for the whiteboard. I got excited so when I picked up the markers I also picked up snacks. Lots of snacks so that we could power through the more arduous parts of the meeting.

Well, this year I am in charge of facilities again and guess what has been requested? No snacks.

It seems my sugary choices made the team feel sick. In fact, universally they all mentioned that there had been too many snacks. Not that they didn’t feel pampered, they just explained, “if you bring it our appetites will come”.

Even healthy snacks were banned. Like popcorn in a theater, when food is there the hand takes on a life of its own and the next thing you know you are crunching on something. Some said the breads made them more tired and veggies dips were too tempting.

We just finished our meeting and it went great. People were alert through it and reported feeling much better. The trick was to break for meals and eat conscientiously during the meal.

There is something about eating somewhat mindlessly, it's like your body doesn't know when to prepare for the digestion process or when to shut it down. We took the time while eating to relax a little even when we were discussing agenda items we were more relaxed and conversational in a sort of power-saving mode.

If you are planning a meeting for your company I hope the "break for meals" strategy helps.